ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Finance
CBIC Chairman inaugurates Customs & GST pavilion at 40th India International Trade Fair
Shri M. Ajit Kumar, Chairman, CBIC, inaugurated the Customs & GST pavilion here today at Hall no.12 of Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs  has set up Customs & GST pavilion in the 40th edition of India International Trade Fair. The CBIC has been putting up pavilions in the IITFs since 2012 with an objective to educate visiting members of trade & public about compliance requirements under GST and Customs Acts and to inform them about various trade facilitation measures which the Department periodically takes.
Aligned to ITPO’s theme of Atmanirbhar Bharat, theme-based events on each day are being organised in the Customs & GST pavilion. Sessions on Government of India initiatives to encourage ‘Make in India’ such as Manufacturing and other Operations in Warehouse Regulations  Scheme, Production linked Incentive  Scheme and Import of Goods at Concessional Rate of Duty Rules, 2017  are being organised. CBIC’s initiatives on leveraging technology in Customs & GST, cross-border e-Commerce, and securing transactions in Customs will also be showcased and discussed. Various Industry partners such as Invest India, EICI, FIEO and CII have associated with CBIC to organise these theme-based events.
Six Helpdesks viz. GST, Customs, Authorized Economic Operator  scheme, GSTN and Systems have been setup in the pavilion. Officers from the concerned departments will be available to discuss and suggesting resolution to the issues faced by the tax-payers and visitors. Based on the theme of taxation, the pavilion will also engage and educate general public through quiz competitions, nukkad nataks, pantomimes etc. Some of the illustrious and internationally awarded sports persons who are employed with Department will also be available for interaction with public.
All Covid-19 protocols are being followed at the Customs & GST pavilion.
Ministry of Agriculture &
Farmers Welfare
Impact of Pandemic on Farming Sector
During the lockdown situation, the agriculture sector is functioning smoothly. Government of India has taken all necessary measures to ensure smooth sowing operation during pre-monsoon and monsoon period. All the necessary exemptions were allowed for agricultural activities during lockdown period.
As per the Provisional Estimates of National Income 2019-20 released by the Central Statistics Office , Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on 31st August, 2020 the growth rate of real Gross Value Added  of Agriculture & Allied sectors is 3.4 % in the First Quarter , 2020-21.
Assistance under MGNREGA and PMGKAY is being provided to agricultural labourers etc.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi  Scheme since inception and as on 15/09/2020 about 10.19 crore farmer families have been benefitted and an amount of Rs.94,1305 crore was released. During the period of lock down, an amount of around Rs. 410,86 crores  has been disbursed to various beneficiaries under the Scheme covering various instalments.
The Government had provided the facility of Kisan Credit Card to the farmers to invest in crops and animal husbandry and fisheries. Now the beneficiary farmers of PM-KISAN Scheme are also getting the facilities of Kisan Credit Card. There is no mortgage required to avail loan up to Rs1.60 lakh.
Under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana , total claims of Rs 5,326.7 crores were paid during lockdown period, PMFBY was made more efficient and farmer friendly and made voluntary for all farmers. Government of lndia will now bear 90% of premium subsidy liability for North Eastern States instead of 50% earlier. Further benefit of 2% interest subvention  to Banks and 3% Prompt Repayment Incentive  to all farmers for all crop loans up to Rs. 3 lakhs given by banks was extended till 31/08/2020.
This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha yesterday.
Ministry of Finance
Government of India and ADB Sign $375 Million Loan to Improve Irrigation Efficiency in Madhya Pradesh
Government of India and the Asian Development Bank  signed a $375 million loan agreement to contribute to double farming incomes in Madhya Pradesh by expanding irrigation networks and system efficiency.
The Madhya Pradesh Irrigation Efficiency Improvement Project will develop 125,000 hectares of new, highly efficient and climate resilient irrigation networks and improve water use efficiency in more than 400 villages, benefiting over 800,000 people in Madhya Pradesh.
Shri Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary , Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, signed the loan agreement for the Government of India, and Shri Sabyasachi Mitra, Deputy Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission, signed on behalf of ADB. A separate project agreement was signed by Shri A.K. Upmanyu, Project Director on behalf of the State of Madhya Pradesh.
“The Project will support the efforts of Government of Madhya Pradesh for irrigation expansion and modernization plan by maximizing irrigation efficiency and water productivity,” said Shri Khare.
“The ADB funds will be used to develop a large-scale pressurized and automated irrigation system for boosting irrigation efficiency,” said Shri Mitra. “The Project will support institutional innovations through introduction of a design-build-operate contracting approach.”
The project will focus on two large irrigation systems. At the first of these—the Kundalia irrigation project—it will develop 125,000 ha of new and highly efficient and climate resilient irrigation networks. The work to be undertaken includes building two large pumping stations pumping water to distribution chambers where water will be distributed through a network of buried pipes to farm outlets. The project will also help farmers to adopt micro-irrigated agriculture including high-value crops.
For the second large irrigation system, the existing Sanjay Sarovar Irrigation Project, the project will prepare a comprehensive modernization feasibility study and other preparatory work for a soundly designed project.
ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members—48 from the region. In 2017, ADB operations totaled $32.2 billion, including $11.9 billion in co financing.
Ministry of Defence
Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh lays foundation stone for construction of Underpasses to join IMA Dehradun campuses
Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh laid the foundation stone for the construction of Underpasses at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, via video conferencing from here today.
Addressing the ceremony Raksha Mantri said it is strange that it took 40 years to get a green signal for the construction of these underpasses which will facilitate seamless movements among the three campuses of the Academy. As of now, traffic signals are an impediment for the trainee cadets to smoothly cross from one side to the other. Alternatively, this is also a hassle for the local people during the movements of IMA Cadets. With the rise in population of Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand, the movement of traffic has increased causing frequent traffic jams. The construction of the underpasses will ease traffic flow on NH-72. Besides the people of Dehradun, the underpasses will also greatly benefit the people of other parts of Uttarakhand, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.
The proposal for the underpass was mooted in October 1978 keeping in view the security of the General Cadets and the convenience of the people of Dehradun. However, the work on the project could not start due to various issues of ownership and funding. On 7th December, 2019 during the passing out parade AT-2019, Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh announced the Acceptance of Necessity  of the value of 45 Crore Rupees which set the ball rolling for the construction of the underpasses.
Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
Shri Nitin Gadkari says construction of 14.71-kilometer-long four-lane Highway from Dimapur to Kohima  being undertaken at estimated cost of Rs 339.55 crore
In a series of tweets Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari has said in Nagaland we are undertaking a significant infrastructure development project: the construction of a 14.71-kilometer-long four-lane highway from Dimapur to Kohima . He said the total cost of the project is estimated at Rs 339.55 crore.
Shri Gadkari said the primary objective of this project is to improve the connectivity between the capital city and other major commercial centers in the state, thereby enabling faster movement of people and goods for growth and prosperity.
The Minister said our aim under the leadership of Prime Minister is to deliver a road infrastructure that is both cost-effective and sustainable while adhering to strict timelines and uncompromising standards of quality.
Ministry of Science & Technology
Vritika Research Internship
“Grooming academic publishing skills via a short term training course”
The one month Vritika Research Internship sponsored by the Science & Engineering Research Board , Department of Science and Technology , Govt of India, under Accelerate Vigyan Vritika scheme was concluded with the valedictory function organized today at the Vivekananda Hall, CSIR-NIScPR, New Delhi.
The participants shared their feedback individually reflecting up on such a wonderful opportunity for learning the basics of Science Communication at the right place, interaction with experienced staff, listening to useful lectures by eminent experts in the field over the period of last four weeks, and more interestingly “hands on exercises” on various aspects of science communication, be it popular science writing for the general masses and scholarly communication and academic publication. Shri RS Jayasomu, Chief Scientist was the ‘Guest of Honour’ as the Acting Director, CSIR-NIScPR today. In his address, he congratulated the participants for successfully completing the one month ‘Vritika’ Research Internship. Appreciating their involvement and passion towards communicating science, shri Jayasomu urged all of them to complete the given challenge of converting their ‘one-month’ assignment work on ‘citation of predatory publications in selected SCI indexed journals’ into a valuable scholarly communication and publish in a reputed journal.
The Internship marked as one of the key milestones by inspiring the young research scholars with an emphasis on the need for gaining a research oriented career. All the participants appreciated the efforts made by CSIR-NIScPR in successfully conducting this one-month long internship programme, hospitality apart from ‘food for thought’, and also thanked SERB, DST for supporting such practically useful programmes. Dr. N K Prasanna, the PI of the Vritika Research Internship programme delivered the Vote of thanks highlighting the support and encouragement extended by Dr Ranjana Aggarwal, Director, CSIR-NIScPR, funding received from SERB-DST, Govt. of India, organizing team at CSIR-NIScPR, and last but not the least, the participants for their interest and enthusiasm shown all through the month long internship programme cooperation.
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SNC/RR
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Election Commission
Peaceful Voting in Phase III of the General Elections to the Legislative Assembly of Jharkhand, 2019
The Third Phase of General Elections to Legislative Assembly of Jharkhand 2019 took place in 17 Assembly Constituencies  today. Polling was accordingly held in eight districts namely Kodarma, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Ramgarh, Giridih, Bokaro, Seraikella-Kharsawan and Ranchi. The poll today went off peacefully, without any incident, with very enthusiastic participation of voters including PWDs, senior citizens, youth etc.
Important Highlights are as follows:
- 5,342 out of 7,016 polling stations  were categorized as critical; adequate security arrangements were made.
- 188 polling stations required dispatching polling teams two days in advance.
- 3 choppers were deployed to drop 160 polling personnel.
- This phase covered 56,18,267 voters, including 10,365 service voters and 63,616PwD voters. 309 Candidates including 32 female candidates are in fray.
- 7,336Volunteers facilitated bringing PwD voters from their houses to the polling stations. 1,953 vehicles were deployed to facilitate their transport. 3,581 wheelchairs were provided at the Polling Stations.
- The Commission put in place an elaborate mechanism to curb the misuse of money power. Total value of seizures across the State till today is Rs 16.75Crores.
- The newly developed Booth App to let voters know about the number of voters in the queue was used successfully in three Assembly Constituencies of Phase-III, viz., 23-Ramgarh , 25-Hazaribagh  and 63-Ranchi .
- Approx.Voter Turnout figures  :
At the time of release of the Press Note, the voting in some of the Polling Stations was still going on. The final Voting Turnout will be known after the verification and scrutiny of Presiding Officers’ Diaries and other documents. As of reports received till 5.00 pm, the approximate voter turnout figure for the 17 ACs of 3rdphase todayis 62.03%. The final voter turnout in LAE 2014 for these 17 ACs was 64.02%.
- EVMs& VVPATs :
No complaint regarding EVM/VVPAT have been reported during the poll today. Across the 17 ACs today, as per figures received till now only 0.43%BUs,0.44% CUs and 1.13% VVPATs were replaced during the poll.
President's Secretariat
PRESIDENT OF INDIA PRESENTS GALLANTRY AWARDS
The President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu presented Gallantry Awards at the Defence Investiture Ceremony-2023 held at Rashtrapati Bhavan today . Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were the Vice President of India, Prime Minister of India and Union Minister for Defence.
The citation of awardees and photographs of the function are attached.
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
Welfare of De-Notified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes
The list of Annexure-II of date Commission Report comprises of 267 communities, out of which Anthropological Survey of India  is conducting ethnographic studies of 255 communities and remaining 12 communities are being studied by the respective Tribal Research Institutes . Out of 255 Communities, AnSI has submitted report for 24 communities to this Department.
AnSI has informed that they have completed the study of 161 communities across the country and remaining 65 communities and additional 5 communities from Arunachal Pradesh will be studied during the year 2022.
The Ministry vide Gazette Notification dated 12.02.2014 had constituted National Commission for De-notified and Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes  also know as Idate Commission for the period of 3 years from the date of Notification. NCDNT has submitted its report on 08.01.2018.
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has constituted Development and Welfare Board for De-Notified, Nomadic and Semi- Nomadic Communities  for the development and welfare of DNTs. The Board has launched a scheme namely Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs  on 16th February 2022 for its target group.
The objectives of the Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs  are,  To provide coaching of good quality for DNT candidates to enable them to appear in competitive exams,  To provide health insurance to DNT communities,  To facilitate livelihoods initiative at community level to build and strengthen small clusters of DNT/NT/SNT communities institutions,  To provide financial assistance for construction of houses to members of the DNT communities.
The Scheme will benefit 6250 students by providing free coaching, 4,45,450 families by providing health insurance, 1,920 clusters for livelihood initiative and 4,165 families by providing houses in five years. A portal  has been developed for inviting applications through online system for easy access to the beneficiaries under the Scheme.
This information was given by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Sushri Pratima Bhoumik in the Lok Sabha in a written reply today.
Ministry of Tourism
Ministry of Tourism has identified 180 Tourist sites for organizing Swachhta Action Plan  activities during the year 2019-20 to create Swachhta Awareness amongst the tourists
Under the Swachh Bharat Mission the Ministry of Tourism has identified 180 Tourist sites for organizing Swachhta Action Plan  activities during the year 2019-20 to create Swachhta Awareness amongst the tourists, students of schools / colleges and stakeholders across the country. Besides, Swachhta Pakhwada and Swachhta-Hi-Seva activities have also been undertaken by the Ministry of Tourism at several locations across the country.
As per information received from Archaeological Survey of India, in the State of Uttar Pradesh, there are thirteen monuments that have been identified as Adarsh Monuments for providing tourist facilities which are as follows:
1. Taj Mahal, Agra 2. Fatehpur Sikri, Agra 3. Agra Fort, Agra 4. Itmad-ud-Duala, Agra 5. Akbar’s Tomb, Sikandra, Agra 6. Rani Jhansi’s Palace, Jhansi 7. Residency, Lucknow 8. Kalinjar Fort, Banda 9. Ancient Buddhist Remains and site, Sravasti 10. Site, Stupa and Monastery of the Sakyas, Piparva, Siddharthnagar 11. Lal Khan Tomb, Rajghat, Varanasi 12. Ancient Buddhist Remains and site, Kushinagar 13. Ancient Buddhist Remains, Sarnath, Varanasi.
Facilities like drinking water, toilet, interpretation centre, wi-fi, illumination, ramps, pathways, publication sale counter etc. are provided at the World Heritage and Ticketed monuments. Further, existing facilities are upgraded as per requirement and its upgradation is a continuous process.
This information was given by the Minister of State  of Culture and Tourism, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Ministry of Civil Aviation
Private airlines transport domestic medical cargo of about 2,675 tons
Over 180 Lifeline UDAN flights cover over 1,66,000 kms to deliver essential medical supplies
Over 180 flights have been operated under Lifeline UDAN during Covid-19 lockdown out of which 114 flights were operated by Air India and Alliance Air. 58 Flights were operated by IAF.
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Total Kilometers covered
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1,66,076Kms
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Cargo load carried on 09.04.2020
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10.22Tons
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Total cargo load carried till 09.04.2020
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248.02 + 10.22 = 258.24Tons
Domestic Cargo Operators Blue Dart, Spice jet and Indigo are operating cargo flights on commercial basis. Spicejet operated 241 cargo flights covering 3,29, 886 Kms and carrying 1993 Tons of cargo. Out of these 175 were domestic cargo flights carrying 1401 tons. Blue Dart operated 82 domestic cargo flights covering 79,916 Kms and carrying 1,270 Tons of cargo. Indigo has also operated 15 cargo flights covering 12,206Kms and carrying 4.37 tons of cargo.
Pawan Hans Ltd operated 5 cargo flights upto 8th April 2020 carrying 1.07 tons of critical medical supplies to Guwahati, Agartala, Kishwar, Navapachi, Srinagar, Jammu , Nagpur, Aurangabad, covering distance of 3561 Kilometres.
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Date
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Air India
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Alliance
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IAF
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Total flights operated
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09.4.2020
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04
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|
08
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01
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|
13Air India and IAF collaborated primarily for J&K, Ladakh, North-East and other island regions.
The cargo essentially covered COVID-19 related reagents, enzymes, medical equipment, testing kits & PPE, masks, gloves & other accessories of HLL & cargo requisitioned by State/UT Governments and also postal packets.
INTERNATIONAL
On 9 April 2020, Air India brought 21.77 tons of medical equipment from Shanghai. Air India will be operating dedicated scheduled cargo flights to other countries for uplifting of critical medical equipment as per the requirement.
Domestic cargo by Spicejet 
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Date
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No. of Flights
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Tonnage
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Kilometres
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09-04-2020
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16
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133.80
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16,795
International cargo by Spicejet 
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|
Date
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|
No. of Flights
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Tonnage
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Kilometres
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09-04-2020
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5
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53.77
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13,316
Blue Dart cargo uplift 
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Date
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|
No. of Flights
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|
Tonnage
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|
Kilometres
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|
09-04-2020
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12
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195.100
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12,642.65
Ministry of Culture
International Yoga Day commemorated at various locations in Goa
Chief Minister Shri Pramod Sawant performs Yoga at Fort Aguada
Goa, 21 June 2021
The Union Culture Ministry is celebrating International Day of Yoga – 2021 at 75 places in the country under the campaign “AZADI KA AMRITMAHOTSAV- Yoga an Indian Heritage” linking the celebration of 75 years of India’s Independence. Out of these places two sites in Goa have been selected for the campaign. They are Fort Aguada, Fort Aguada Rd, Aguada Fort Area, Candolim and Mahadeva Temple, at Tambdi Surla.
Fort Aguada is a well-preserved seventeenth-century Portuguese fort, along with a lighthouse, standing in Goa, India, on Sinquerim Beach, overlooking the Arabian Sea. Mahadeva Temple, Tambdi Surla is a 12th-century Shaivite temple in the Kadamba style dedicated to Lord Shiva and an active place of Hindu worship. It is considered to be the only specimen of Kadamba architecture in basalt stone preserved and available in Goa. Both these sites are centrally protected monuments of National Importance under Archaeological Survey of India .
Chief Minister of Goa Shri Pramod Sawant performed yoga at Fort Aguada. Rohan Shroff from India Tourism tutored various poses of yoga to the participants which were twelve in number. The yoga session was followed by a cultural programme conducted by West Zone Cultural Centre, Ministry of Culture.
The Yoga session at Mahadev Temple Tambdi Surla was performed under the instructions of Yoga Tutor Snehal Tari , ASI Staff and villagers from Tamdi surla attended the event .The event began at 07.00 AM and concluded at 07.45 AM. Subsequently a Cultural Programme was performed from 7.45 to 8.15 by artists of Sangeet Natak Akademi.
During occasion T-shirts, masks with a specific theme / tagline and logo were prepared and provided to all participants and the program was conducted as per the Covid-19 and its related SOP was followed. The main theme of IDY 2021 is “Yoga for Wellness”, which is aligned to the current pre-occupations. Numerous digital initiatives taken by the Ministry together with nearly 1000 other stake-holding institutions made the practice of Yoga accessible to the public, despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic.VK/DR
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